Freelancer for Hire

Hi there! In addition to blogging, I also work as a freelance writer, editor and proofreader covering creative, social, corporate and academic writing. If you need a blog post written, or a thesis edited, or your novel reviewed, please drop me a line!

I was privileged enough to see Lady Gaga in concert a few weeks ago and it was excellent. I bought two shirts and some socks. I might feature them one day! You can’t quite see it properly but I love the bright colours and the cartoonish grotesqueness of her likeness, almost in a Día de los Muertos style.

My Converse are my oldest pair and ones I should wear more. I sometimes wear this outfit with black ankle boots, to make it a tiny bit dressier.

My hair – I would really like to have an outrageous hair colour but my job is prohibiting that at the moment. A Color Bug is like eyeshadow for hair – it’s a powder you swipe onto your hair. You need to add product (I use dry shampoo or serum) to make it stick, and hairspray to seal it. It is messy and does rub off onto your clothes and make your hair knot after a while but I like it. I own the purple one too but I have to use a lot more of it for it to be visible.

This is my totally adorable owl necklace. I bought it on a whim after lusting after it for ages despite not having anything to wear it with.

This outfit represents a new direction in my style. The skirt is super-short, for me, so it’s a little bit of risk taking and exploring that wonderful avenue of Not Giving A Fuck. It’s a good place to be.

P.S. This is little but must be celebrated: I’ve hit 1,000 pageviews! Thank you to all my old friends, new friends and spammers for making it possible.

Like this:

We planned to get married in a beautiful park by a lake filled with native birdlife. However, come the morning of the wedding, it was raining and freezing and Chris and our celebrant had to move the ceremony into our reception venue. This wasn’t what I wanted, but I had no say. I had my little tantrum, then took a deep breath and got on with it. It turned out so much better than I could have hoped for. Our ceremony was warm, funny, personal and lovely. We were able to get some photos later at the park and lake when the weather cleared, so it wasn’t a total loss. Everyone, including us, was warm, dry and comfortable. Our reception was bright and colourful, full of great food and music with the people we loved. We had friends and family come in from all over the country, and everyone thought that the whole thing was just so us.

I was very nervous in the days leading up to it, but in the end I made peace with the planning process and let it all happen. Having a champagne breakfast whilst getting my hair done definitely helped! In the end, I married my best friend and got to be a princess for a day. Now, I don’t have the professional pictures back yet, but hopefully here’s some good ones that’ll show off my dress:

Like this:

So, this is a bit odd for me. I’m attempting to foray into fashion blogging. Of a sort.

I have tons and tons of clothes, and I like working out my style. However – let’s get it out there – I’m fat, always have been, so it’s always been difficult to find things I liked, and that fit me well. I also have a funny-shaped body – I’m a size smaller on top than the bottom, and I’m only 5’3″ tall. It’s been a challenge. When I was a teenager I used to wear a lot of boys’ clothes, which fit me even more badly than women’s clothes, but were big and baggy and easy to hide. From the ages of 14 – 16 I wore only the colour blue, shoes included. Then over time the clothes got better, I made more money and I discovered what I liked.

I have a huge collection of Converse shoes: I think the number is at 17, but I’m not sure. I’ve been wearing them since I was 16, and I’m even wearing them to my wedding, as you will have seen. I love colours – I’ve been guilty of wearing up to five or six at once. I also love patterns – tartans/plaids, argyle, paisley, stripes. Lately I’m into coloured jeans – in addition to blue and black, I also have red, cobalt blue, and dark green. I nearly bought a grape pair but the cut was a bit funny.

I also try to buy cheaply, which can be hard. I hate paying $60+ for a shirt or $100+ for a jacket or jeans that don’t fit me, are poorly constructed and made out of cheap material, and are usually black, which is the MO for specialist plus-sized stores. I bought a dress from said store, paid a fair bit of money and the shoulder seam fell apart hanging on the hanger. Thankfully my mother-in-law is a skilled seamstress and fixed it for me.

Luckily shops are getting better, and their ideas are getting better. I have a shortage of good corporate clothes, which are difficult to find, but I get creative. So, ladies and gentlemen, may I present, my first Outfit of the Day:

I’m sorry this is kind of blurry but Chris took the photo inside and my battery was about to die. Promise it will be better next time.

So, what do you think?

P.S. I forgot to say that last night I had an epiphany. Chris and I were walking to get dinner, and I fancied McDonalds. Normally I feel bad about this, but last night I was in a wonderful state of calm, almost zen-like. After all these long, difficult years, I think I have finally reached the wonderful point of no longer giving a single, infinitesimal fuck. It’s a beautiful feeling.